BIG SURPRISES IN THE SENNHEISER TOP 50 2016 RANKING

A brand new clutch of young bands including Barefaced Liar, Parvaaz and Daira make it to the top of the second season of Sennheiser Top50, powered by Johnnie Walker The Journey

Just in its second year, the Sennheiser Top50 2016 national band hunt saw a record 370 entries in the online selection stage of the contest this month. The bands were vying to not only enter this much vaunted listing of the best emerging rockers in the country, but also to make it to the short list of five bands that will be flown to Mumbai to participate in the grand finale at Hard Rock Café on September 22nd .Sennheiser Top50 is powered by Johnnie Walker The Journey, and Rolling Stone is the magazine partner.

The 2016 ranking that was announced last week show a major reshuffle in the rankings. The top-five list sees the entry of three new bands, Delhi-based Barefaced Liar and Run It’s the Kid, and Bengaluru rockers Parvaaz. They are joined by Peepal Tree from Bengaluru and Daira from Mumbai who were ranked 9th and 27th in last year’s listing respectively.

These bands minus Run It's the Kid will now battle it out in front of a heavy weight jury consisting of Indus Creed frontman Uday Benegal, singer Angaraag ‘Papon’ Mahanta and recording engineer/music producer Ashish Manchanda at Mumbai’s Hard Rock Café for the five top positions. Because of Run It’s The Kid’s expressed inability to travel to Mumbai on the appointed date, the 6th placed Mumbai-based rockers Symphony Novel got lucky because of the ranking reshuffle as per the rules of the competition. They will now join the other Top 5 bands at the Hard Rock Finale, which will be headlined by last year’s winner The Local Train.

The 370 bands who participated in the online selection process this year were shortlisted to a 100 by editors of Rolling Stone magazine. That list was then further whittled down to 50 and ranked through combination of online polling and jury selection. Among the members of the jury were Shankar Ehsaan Loy, Raghu Dixit, Pappon and Ashish Manchanda.

Bands from across India – both well-established as well as newbies make up this year’s ranking, and the diverse selection shows the range of talent on the country’s alt music circuit. Progressive rock band Symphony Novel from Mumbai, acoustic band When Chai Met Toast from Bengaluru, rock band Echo from Guwahati/Gangtok, psychedelic rock band The Urban EarlyMen from Delhi and many more are part of the Top 50. We recommend you check out the full list via the link below where you will sounds from a multitude of genres, funk, folk, regional rock, pop, fusion and more.

The 2016 winner of Sennheiser Top50 will earn not just a trophy, but also a two-year endorsement deal with the company, and top-of-the-line gear from the company including the Evolution wireless 500 G3 vocal microphones and HD 280 Pro headphones. The other four will also be honoured with Sennheiser headphones and microphones. The 2nd ranked band will also get a chance to record their own song with producer Ashish Manchanda at his Flying Carpet Productions studio, while the artist ranked 3rd will receive a mentoring session from one of the judges.

The Local Train, fusion duo Shadow & Light (both from Delhi) and hugely popular folk/fusion band Purple Fusion from Nagaland topped the ranking last year.